


Hold my hand and float back to the summer time

by caughtinanocean



Category: X-Factor (Comics)
Genre: Dogs, Domestic, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 11:52:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2811059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caughtinanocean/pseuds/caughtinanocean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julio and Shatterstar learn how to come home, and what you do after. </p><p>
  <i>“‘Star, have you ever thought about...doing something else?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Well, there was televised combat in an arena,” Shatterstar says, “and we just led a revolution.” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Julio looks at the floor underneath his socked feet. He feels sort of stupid saying this aloud. “I mean, like. Normal stuff.” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Normal stuff,” Shatterstar echoes. “Huh.”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold my hand and float back to the summer time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [defcontwo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/defcontwo/gifts).



> Hope you enjoy this, defcontwo! Happy holidays! Title comes from "Gooey" by Glass Animals.

The thing about going on an intergalactic adventure with your boyfriend, traveling through time, and taking part in a space rebellion, is that no one tells you what to do next. 

When Shatterstar leans in close, hands on Julio’s skin and what is probably blood and some kind of viscera in his hair (battle’s been rough; Julio’s glad Shatterstar doesn’t wear his hair long anymore -- for a number of reasons, but this is certainly among them), and whispers, “Think of home,” Julio isn’t even sure where they should go. 

X-Factor is scattered; their war is done; this is the part where they figure out what home is. 

Julio pictures the New York motel where they once spent three days, mostly in bed, mostly fucking, but also eating takeout, and watching bad TV, and talking about nothing and everything. Julio had looked over at Star's handsome face, intent on some reality show, and thought, 'This is it.'

‘This is it,’ Julio thinks, as they blink between worlds, the two of them, together. ‘This is always going to be it.’

\--

"Shit," Julio says. "I forgot about money."

The motel would like a credit card, or some cash.

Their wallets are somewhere on Mojoworld. 

It’s just the sort of thing you overlook when you’re kind of leading a revolution. 

Shatterstar leans over the counter, and flirts with the hospitality staff, feeding them stories about pickpockets, and he knows the number of one his cards by heart (that genetically engineered brain of his -- he probably knows all of their cards), and won’t they please try putting it in?

Julio grits his teeth. Jesus, he hates it when Star flirts. 

He’d probably hate _sleeping on the street_ more, but it’s a close thing.

\--

Two _good_ hours after they get their motel room, Julio can’t _really_ remember what he was mad about, just that he likes angry sex, a lot. 

He knows it was important, though. 

‘Star’s got a satisfied grin on his face, like the cat that caught the cream. 

Julio hates him. 

He nuzzles into Shatterstar’s shoulder, and wraps an arm around his waist. 

_Hates_ him. 

\--

As it turns out, getting new credit cards and IDs is a huge pain in the ass when you don’t actually have an address, and no, they won’t send anything to a motel. 

Julio slams the hotel phone back into its cradle. 

“We could deal with this later,” Shatterstar suggests, rubbing at his tense shoulders, “do other, more fun things now…”

Julio swats his hand off. “We need money, and a place to live, or we won’t have anywhere to do fun things.” 

“Outside is fine,” Shatterstar says. 

“Like hell outside is fine!” 

“There are plenty of discrete places.” He’s got a look on his face, like he’s already planning. 

“That you can have sex in by yourself, because you’ll never talk _me_ into it.”

“What about--”

“That was _one time_.” 

\--

They don’t stop bickering until the phone rings.

Julio and Shatterstar both stare, suspicious, at the phone. It’s probably just the front desk. Not a soul knows where they’re staying. 

Julio answers, and Shatterstar watches the door. 

“You should probably come stay with us on the farm,” a familiar voice says.

“Layla?” 

“Yes!” Layla says. “Thank fuck it’s actually you, Ric. Looks like I still know some things!”

“You scared the shit out of us.”

Shatterstar is still on guard, and Julio waves him over. Star sits on the bed, sinking down, and Julio wraps a hand around his wrist, stroking the pulse point there. 

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Shatterstar has never been anything besides a warrior. Sometimes, it’s not easy to forget at all. 

“Anyway,” Layla says. “You, Shatterstar. Our farm. Just until you find an apartment.”

He looks at Star. It’s not like they’ve got anywhere else to go. “Yeah, okay.”

\--

“Holy shit,” Julio says. “You’re like, really pregnant.”

Layla’s on the couch, with her feet up on a coffee table, and about three Madroxes buzzing around her, concerned. “Hello to you, too.”

“You look gorgeous,” Shatterstar says, smile all bright and winning. 

At least, Julio thinks, Star’s got enough charm for the both of them. 

He kisses Layla’s hand. Two of the Madroxes frown. One of them waggles his eyebrows. 

Too much charm, Star’s got too much charm for the both of them. 

\--

“I cannot _believe_ you’re going to be some kid’s dad, Madrox.” Julio takes a long, slow sip of his beer. They’re sitting at the kitchen table, shooting the shit like they’re back in the X-Factor office and nothing has changed. 

Jamie shakes his head and laughs. He looks giddy and sort of terrified. Julio remembers when Rahne told him that he was the father of her child. He hadn’t been happy the way Jamie looks happy, but that hadn’t been with the person he loved. Julio wonders what that’s like -- 

He cuts off that train of thought before it gets very far. It’s not one he’s ready for. 

“Kid’s fucked,” Madrox says. “At least he or she has Layla.”

“You guys don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl?” 

Layla waddles into the kitchen, her feet bare on the linoleum floor, and opens the fridge. “We don’t,” she answers. “I wanted to be surprised. Ugh, I’m starving.”

Jamie leaps to his feet. “Sit down, tell me what you want.”

The old Madrox would have had a dupe do it, for sure, Julio thinks. The old Madrox would never have settled down and left the saving people to somebody else. He’s changed, for Layla -- they’ve changed together. 

It makes Julio wonder.

Shatterstar wanders into the room, hair damp from a shower. He offers to help in the kitchen, and it snowballs into the three men making dinner while Layla bosses them around with her feet up on the table. 

Their little team was always a family.

\--

“We’re not having sex on Madrox’s floor,” Julio hisses, the whisper sharp in the dark. He swats Shatterstar’s hand away from the elastic of his boxers. 

“Give me three good reasons why,” Star says, his voice low and sultry like it gets when he wants to remind people that he’s really, really hot. 

Julio hits him with a pillow.

\--

They wind up staying with Layla and Madrox for a little bit over a week, while credit cards and bank accounts and a new apartment get sorted out. 

Layla kisses Julio on the cheek before they head out. “Don’t be strangers, okay? You’re going to be part of our baby’s life. Plus, I’m stuck on my ass all day, so I’m counting on calls to entertain me.”

“Promise,” Julio tells her, and then he and Star flash away. 

\--

The thing is, the both of them were forged warriors, in their own ways, and they’ve spent their whole lives driven by a sense of purpose. 

It’s three days in bed in the one bedroom apartment they’ve been decorating with odds and ends from the thrift store down the street before Shatterstar looks over and says, “The people we helped -- how did Madrox find them?”

It’s not something Julio’s thought too much about -- at X-Factor, the problems always showed up at their door. 

They could put the word out, and the lost souls would probably start coming. Definitely. They’d definitely come. 

Watching his gladiator-messiah boyfriend pace around the room, Julio’s not so sure that it would be the right thing to do. 

“‘Star, have you ever thought about...doing something else?”

“Well, there was televised combat in an arena,” Shatterstar says, “and we just led a revolution.” 

Julio looks at the floor underneath his socked feet. He feels sort of stupid saying this aloud. “I mean, like. Normal stuff.” 

“Normal stuff,” Shatterstar echoes. “Huh.” 

\--

“This is pretty normal,” Shatterstar says, his mouth hot on Julio’s neck. 

“Yeah,” Julio says, biting back a groan, “but you’re not getting paid for it.”

“Mhm, I could make an excellent living from my skills in this arena,” Star says. 

Julio scratches his back, hard. And if he gives the foundation of the house just a very small warning shake, no one else can ever prove it. 

\--

“We should try normal,” Shatterstar says, after. “It would be novel.”

\--

Star buys a whiteboard, for brainstorming ‘normal life’ ideas. 

It remains blank. 

\--

Julio lasts about forty-eight hours of the board taunting him with its glossy, undisturbed sheen before he calls Layla. “Use your creepy powers and tell me what I’m supposed to do, Miller.”

She laughs. “I can’t. Even if I still knew, I couldn’t.”

“We’ve got no idea how to do this,” Julio tells her. “It’s sad.”

“Get a dog,” Layla suggests. “Or a cat. You’re more like a cat, but Star’s more like a dog, so it could really go either way. Get both?”

Julio hang up on her, but he can’t stop thinking about it, either -- the mundanity of having a pet. 

\-- 

Shatterstar falls in love with a wiggly little puppy who won’t stop tussling with her litter mates approximately three minutes into the adoption fair, and Julio has to admit she’s pretty cute. 

They take her home. 

The whiteboard turns into a brainstorming board for puppy names, but nothing feels right.

“Tell me about it,” Layla says on the phone, “this kid’s gonna pop out of me, and we’ll be calling it ‘baby’ for a month, at this rate.”

Julio starts calling the puppy “Mutt.” It sticks. 

\--

The whiteboard stays blank for a while, even after Mutt comes into their lives. Things don’t change that fast -- but they do change. 

Shatterstar and Julio start going on runs with the dog together. Layla and Madrox have their kid, and Julio feels something like wonderment holding his friends’ tiny baby in his arms -- a connection to the world and to time that has nothing to do with feeling the earth move. 

There are dinners they cook themselves, and days on the couch in front of the TV, and hours upon hours of sex. 

One day, Star comes home with a camera, “to document it all,” and just like that, a word appears on the whiteboard -- ‘photographer,’ and it’s like opening up the floodgates. The board fills up with all of the things they could do and could be, things that aren’t just ‘fighter,’ and ‘mutant,’ and ‘hero.’

\--

They’re going to start something, the two of them. Julio isn’t sure _what_ yet, but it’s going to be good. It’s always good, when the two of them are together.


End file.
